Split Galaxy
by Artman25
Summary: April 25, 2057- Star Wars: The Old Republic, the worlds first Virtual MMO. A malfunction occurs, causing the Jedi players to wake up in an unknown galaxy. But what of the ones not playing as Jedi? Will the Dark Side consume them? Will the Covenant join the new Sith Empire? Or become slaves to the Sith as they sweep across the universe? And what does humanity think about all this?


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, Star Wars: The Old Republic belongs to Bioware and Electronic Arts including copyrighted material. Halo belongs to 343 Industries and/or Bungie. I do **NOT** plan to distribute this fanfiction for monetary gain… it's just for fun and enjoyment, nothing else. And **I DO NOT** intend copyright infringement.

**A/N:** Special thanks to my Beta-reader, Espaa Pestage for helping me with this.

** Split Galaxy**

**Chapter One: The 'Force' That Lived**

_The stone fell from its loose hold, rushing to the cavern's endless bottom. It didn't question why it was falling, nor what had made it fall… It was a stone, nothing more or less; still it hurtled to a great tomb of a machine like a cannon ball. The dark cavern held no light within its depths; the stone didn't care, it had no eyes with which to see anything. It drew closer to the ancient machine as it hit one of its brothers. The silent relic loomed in the shadows, looking very much like an elongated triangle. Smooth edges tapered off at the sides into streamlined 'rods' which interconnected beneath the structure. Every fifty kilometers the machine sectioned itself into levels, each one going deeper into the cavern's bottomless pit. At the triangle's top another 'rod' jutted out like that of a flag pole reaching the very cusp of the cavern's vast ceiling. The stone passed through each level of the ancient machine, bypassing more and more 'rods' as it descended..._

Kaleva sighed in irritation at his luck, glaring hate from his eyes into the shopkeeper in front of him. Not like it would do him any good. The thing had frozen again right when he was about to purchase new parts for his lightsaber. He hoped it wouldn't last much longer, but it wasn't as if he had anywhere else to go right now. No important missions or side quests to go adventuring on. He unconsciously tapped his fingers against the smooth durasteel counter, waiting for the shopkeeper to unfreeze.

_Stupid game-generated character!_ Kaleva thought in annoyance as he glanced around the shopping district. His blue eyes roamed over every inch of the larger spaceport and crowded shopping center. Both surrounded the central half-built Tarisian Complex in the distance. Maybe he should go to another kiosk, it looked like the other players weren't having any trouble buying their stuff.

The sweet smells of smoked nerf, duusha cheese and caf wafted from the other shops and stalls around the small district. The place was like a local market in the real world, but more unique in its atmosphere. It was filled with varied goods being sold, tapestries, decorations, armor and food. It all seemed to mix together in a way that was… electrifying. The number of digitized characters that 'swam' around him and the other Testers only added to the atmosphere. It made Kaleva think he really was in Star Wars. Well, it had until he came across this bug in the game.

Just as he was about to leave for another stall, the shopkeeper's visage shimmered for a moment. Sharp red and deep purple outlined the human's digitized form. He went from a blurred haze to a solid and more realistic look. _Finally, maybe now I can buy what I want,_ A humph of air escaped Kaleva's lips, traveling up to his brown hair, causing it to waver. He still hadn't gotten used to the Padawan braid yet, but soon enough it would be gone. For that he'd have to go back to Tython, and then he would get more quests. He tugged at the corners of his robe, the brown cloth and leather was loose fitting, but warm. Overhead the light of the Tarisian sun slowly crawled over white and grey clouds, bathing the shopping center and ecumenopolis ruins in its brightness.

It was amazing how the tall buildings dotting the horizon looked so old and ruined. It seemed like the developers spared no expense, as the all-encompassing forest grew over or in-between the ruble of ancient skyscrapers. Several freighters and cargo ships filled the pinkish-grey sky alongside flying birds and heavy clouds of mist. In-between the Complex, shopping center and spaceport was the scattered tents of makeshift homes. Each a varying color of cloth, wood, duracrete or other supplies shipped in from the Republic. In some cases they were made from scavenged parts of the ruined ecumenopolis.

It reminded Kaleva of a burgeoning settlement in the middle of a growing rainforest. The smells, sounds and 'hot' air were authentic enough to make it feel real, but if you looked too closely, the illusion was shattered like glass. Though it was a very beautiful illusion. Still, the developers were a long way from immersing the players in complete digitized realism. There wasn't any pain, just reactions to things that should have given it. When you died in-game you shattered like glass, or fragile pottery without any wounds or blood.

_Well, the rest of the game works fine,_ he thought as he turned his full attention back to the shopkeeper. The 'man' blinked his dark brown eyes at Kaleva, apparently just now noticing his presence. The man's grey hair moved against the warm current of a silent breeze, looking for all the world like thin wisps of odd colored straw. He wore a nondescript blue tunic with grey pants; the clothes weren't old, but neither were they brand new. The human opened his mouth, slight wrinkles stretching across his face. And…

"Hello there, young man, how can I help you today?" the shopkeeper inquired, his voice filled with great joy at having a 'new' customer. Kaleva just stared at him, face turning bright red with rage as he balled up his hands into fists.

"Oh, come on!" he screamed, anger and disappointment interwoven in the shout. He felt like kicking the digitized NPC. Apparently the freezing had reset the thing's programming. Hopefully it wouldn't bug out again, if the reddish-purple light did its job, that is.

"I'm sorry, I don't have that brand in my stock-" the shopkeeper tried, before being interrupted. If it could feel emotion it would have been angry, or called the authorities during Kaleva's outburst. As it was, an expression of confusion crossed its face. But it wasn't real, the intricacies of the feeling were lost on the digitized character. It was a simple program unlike some of the more detailed ones.

"No! no, I want to buy a lightsaber part," Kaleva said with a little less anger in his voice, even though he'd have to start the conversation all over again.

"Oh, I don't have many parts for a lightsaber. Just a few crystals, power cells and fusion emitters. What kind are …yOu… lOo…king fORrr?" The shopkeeper strained on the last few words, the sound coming out as a rough and mechanical screech. A second later it flicked in and out of existence, sometimes looking like blocked pixels or disjointed colors. In short, it froze again.

"You have got to be kidding me," Kaleva mumbled under his breath, a pained expression on his face. "I…Arrh, never mind." With a wave of his hand, he turned to leave the glitching character. Facing away from the colorful kiosk, he thought about reporting this incident to the game developers. Well, he had no choice now, usually the game would correct the mistake itself after one or two repeats. Except on rare occasions like this. _At least I get to play the game for free, despite the occasional …drawbacks,_ Kaleva thought, then summoned up the Command Menu with a thought. It was too bad the game wasn't real. Although if it were, he'd be suffering immense joint pain and hallucinations from lack of sleep. _Or a cauterized wound from that lightsaber fight yesterday,_ he reminded himself.

He watched the bright-blue box appear in front of him, the color almost reminded him of the ocean. After a brief loading icon (in the shape of the Republic symbol), the list of options came up in its Arubesh font. He smiled at the scrawled out language. If he wanted to, he could easily switch it to English, but Kaleva felt that would detracted from the experience. Apparently, it was close to 3pm, the little triangle in the corner displayed the time in the real world and in game. Ignoring it, he scrolled down the options list in search of his goal. After a while he found it.

Pressing the option to call one of the supervisors, he watched as the color turned from a light-blue to a fiery orange. A moment later he was connected…

_

Nathanael Elwin looked around the design room in appreciation. His green eyes looming over the game's supervisors as they ferociously typed new code into his creation. Soon, Star Wars: The Old Republic would be released as the world's first virtual MMO. He just prayed the critics found it interesting enough. Bloodthirsty sharks, the lot of them. Oh well, as long as he kept the fans happy and awed it would do fine. He could hardly believe it had been five years since he bought the rights to the beloved franchise.

_It's just too bad George isn't here to see this..._ he thought solemnly as he continued to pace around the large circular room. Nathanael wouldn't be satisfied until all the bugs plaguing the game had been fixed. Or at least thoroughly checked out.

The circular room was filled with men and women doing their jobs, some typing in new code and fleshing out levels, while others worked tirelessly to fix errors. The building had the atmosphere of a well-oiled military machine; even so, the place still oozed creative energy. It was a unique mix of focused intent and unhinged imagination. All the creativity and originality had been poured into his game, leaving the room itself like that of a bleak white office. Normally the workers would complain, whining about the bare walls and minimal décor. But throw millions of dollars in their faces and suddenly, they understood his reasoning perfectly.

He smiled as he straightened out his pitch black hair and dark-grey dress shirt. Perhaps after the game launched he'd take them all out to celebrate? They only had six more days until it had to be ready for download. He had more than enough money, courtesy of inventing several virtual single-player games. _I can think about that later,_ he thought as he passed a few workers testing the game's response time. Just as he was passing the person working on the Nar Shaddaa level, another employee got his undivided attention. Apparently, one of the Beta Testers had found a problem on Taris. He rushed to the worker's station, moving like a silent shadow to hover behind the woman's back unnoticed. He leaned in, eyes narrowing significantly as he read the screen in front of her.

**Beta Tester: Kaleva672 swv-17**

**I'm having a problem with one of the shopkeepers on the planet Taris, north-east of the Tarisian Complex and near the spaceport… Shopkeeper File ID 1800943. Character freezes in the middle of speaking and words are strained right before anomaly, seems to flash in and out of the game. Haven't found any other problems on this level yet. Game's almost perfect. Can't wait for the rest of the levels to be finished.**

Nathanael glared at the message in stony silence; he'd thought they'd fixed that one already. He straightened himself out like a board while taking a step back from the employee. He waited… _Why isn't she fixing the issue?_ He worriedly thought, but then decided that he should give her a chance. She probably hadn't finished reading it yet. A minute passed, then six, but the girl hadn't started working on the problem. Instead, she began to reach into her purse, rummaging around until she found what she was looking for. Finally he had enough, and softly tapped her on the shoulder.

Oddly, the girl jumped in fright at the unexpected touch; obviously she was new to the team. A startled "eep!" escaped her mouth as she fought to control her surprise. The thing she'd been trying to obtain from her purse was a compact mirror, Nathanael realized as the pink object embraced the hard floor. By the sound, it wasn't a very happy meeting. For the most part the rest of the workers ignored her outburst, by now they were used to their employer's strange, yet quiet behavior. The girl looked up at him, her blonde hair swaying with the motion as her hazel eyes met his cold green ones.

"Fix the problem, Mrs… " his eyes stole a quick glance at her nametag. "Stanmir," he told her, his voice smooth and dry like an emotionless wall of dirt. "I'm not paying you to sit and work on your appearance." His anger began to increase. "Remove this issue with the game at once!" Nathanael finished, glancing around to see if any near her had stopped in their work to stare. _Good, that should get her back to work,_ he thought as he whirled around to check on the employees upstairs. Nathanael barely heard a half mumbled "Yes, sir." as he continued on his way.

With any luck they'd have the game on schedule by April 25, just in time for Friday night. He had started the Star Wars project in 2052, about a week after acquiring the rights to it in court. It was amazing that Sanku Gaming hadn't done anything with the idea. They'd been sitting on the plans for twenty years, not bothering to do anything with them. Same thing with the company before them and before that company it had belonged to EA. Nathanael often wondered what would've happened if EA hadn't gone under during the Great Recession, having to sell the rights as the corporation slowly became nonexistent. Of course, then the crisis would've ended in '08 and not 2019.

Oh well, it wasn't his place to wonder why some things happened and others didn't. He would leave that to the historians. Unless somehow it concerned his creation in any way. With his musings of history finished, Nathanael quickly walked down the narrow hallway leading to the elevators. His mind constantly wondering if the red carpet was a good contrast to the light-yellow walls. Or if navy-blue would've been a better choice.

_

_The stone eventually hit one of the rods, bouncing off the metallic surface causing it to change directions. Falling faster and faster, the stone picked up speed as it began to spin… Until finally, it smashed into the ancient machine's activation terminal. Splitting the offending object in half freed the stone to collide with the muddy floor. With a great groan of protest, the once lifeless hunk of metal and wires started up again. Illuminating the dark cavern in blinding light, never tested by its creators, the great Forerunner device gathered up power within its rods… The device designed to send its makers to a new universe did the reverse. It stretched out, finding not its manufactured goal of a real place, but that of a world made from crud numbers and code. With the activation terminal destroyed, the relic grasped onto this new 'universe' and pulled… Rendering an ancient planet to breathe first life, digitized flesh to become real and two opposing orders to come into existence. With this act, the Light and Dark sides of the Force swept throughout the entire universe, finally merging with the whole of reality for the first time. What they both 'saw' …made them shriek in terror._


End file.
